LAWMAKERS GET METH LAB PRIMER

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Lawmakers were given a tutorial Thursday on how common
household items are used to manufacture methamphetamine.

State Police Lt. Mike Goff presented a slideshow to a joint health and
justice committee meeting to illustrate how primitive laboratories are set
up to cook the drug.

The key ingredient for making methamphetamine -- and the main chemical
targeted by legislation introduced by Gov. Joe Manchin -- is
pseudoephedrine, which is found in several cold medicines like Sudafed.

Goff displayed images of busted labs showing dozens of empty boxes of
Sudafed and other cold medicines littered around the scene.

"Now either this person had a terrible sinus problem, or more likely they
were cooking meth," he said.

The proposed legislation (SB147, HB2195) would limit the amount of
pseudoephedrine customers could purchase in a one-month period to 9 grams
- -- the equivalent of 15 20-pill packs at a dosage of 30 milligrams per tablet.

The legislation targets pseudoephedrine over other household items like
matches or acetone is because the chemical derived from the medicine "is
the only thing that can't be substituted" in the methamphetamine recipe,
Goff said.

The proposal would move medicines with pseudoephedrine as the single active
ingredient behind the counter at pharmacies, and likely out of the stocks
of convenience stores and supermarkets.

Other medicines, such as cough and cold remedies like NyQuil, contain
several active ingredients and are harder to cook down into the narcotic.

The State Police has found most methamphetamine lab activity in the state
to be centered around Kanawha and Putnam counties, after being introduced
to the state in Wood County in the late 1990s.

But Wood County Prosecuting Attorney Ginny Conley warned other counties not
to be complacent.

"To those of you who think this isn't coming to your area -- it is," she said.